“We’re good, but no matter how good we are, with the kind of invasive mission objectives your father has outlined, someone is going to wake up and raise the alarm.”
“Not if we put a sleeping agent in their evening meal. They all eat from the same supplies. All we have to do is mix it in with the flour the women use to make the bread they serve every night.”
“Too risky.”
“I got in before; I can do it again.”
“There’s no way to regulate how much of the agent they ingest. Enough to knock out an adult could kill a child.” And Daniel wasn’t willing to take that chance.
“What do you suggest?” Tyler asked.
“Change our objectives.”
“To what?”
“The four men who went through your training school are probably the same ones who set the bombs on the mountain. I assume you noted their sleeping quarters. We take them prisoner and deliver them to the FBI, along with copies of the extremists’ files. Welding the armory doors shut is doable, but one level of risk higher than I think we should take.”
“With the four soldiers gone, won’t the others run?” Josie asked.
“Possibly, but with the evidence we’ll provide them, the FBI can put a hold on their funds and confiscate the property housing the compound under the Terrorist Act.”
“And unlike big-name terrorists, these men don’t have a whole lot of financial resources at their disposal,” Tyler mused. “The feds will get them eventually. From what my investigator can tell, their alternative identities are pretty thin. Even the suits in Washington should be able to see through them.”
Josie nodded, her expression saying she had a lot more confidence in the authorities than her dad did. “And if they don’t run, with the inside information you’ve accumulated, the FBI should be able to infiltrate the camp without allowing a hostage situation to develop with the terrorists’ families.”
“I don’t suppose there’s any way I can talk you out of being on the team that goes in to take down the extremists?”
Josie looked critically at the paint job she was giving her toenails. She’d never done this before, but it wasn’t all that hard. Not for a woman who had been trained to hit a target before she’d learned how to ride a bike.
The pink nail polish she’d picked up at one of the airport stores while they were waiting for her dad glistened with a pearly shine. She wiggled her toes. Nice. Very feminine.
She raised her gaze to Daniel. “Why would you want to?”
“I don’t want you hurt.”
“I’m a soldier. This is what I do.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re building a different life for yourself. Maybe you should consider giving that life a chance before taking on a mission like this.”
“There isn’t going to be another mission like this.”
His expression said that wasn’t a bad thing.
She went back to painting her toenails, giving them a second coat. “Wow, the color really changes when you add another coat.”
“Haven’t you worn nail polish before?”
“No. There’s tons of stuff I haven’t done.”
“Like what?”
“I’d never been in a girls’ locker room until I joined a health club near my house.”
“Did you join so you could go in one?”
She finished her right foot and switched to her left. “Yeah. It probably sounds crazy to you, but there are so many normal life experiences I want to try.”
“You can’t exactly do stuff like go to dances, pass notes with your friends and have a crush on the most popular boy in school now.”
“I didn’t go to school at all. The one time I tried in junior high, I felt so out of place I never wanted to go back. I like college, though. Claire and I have even passed notes.” Having finished her toenails, she closed the bottle of nail polish and put it on the nightstand beside the bed. “I wonder how long these will take to dry.”
“What does the bottle say?”
“It doesn’t. I guess they figure women don’t need directions for this sort of thing.”
He came around the bed and sat down beside her, laying his long legs alongside hers. “I’d give it at least fifteen minutes.”
She wiggled her toes again, careful not to let them touch each other. “Sounds good.”
“Are you sure you’re up to a mission right now?”
She looked sideways at him. “Of course.”
“But you’re having your woman’s thing.”
“Woman’s thing?” she asked and giggled.
That was another thing she hadn’t really done before, but her big, bad mercenary was looking distinctly uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help herself. Considering how solicitous he’d been of her, this obvious discomfort over discussing her monthly was hilarious.
“Well, men don’t have them.”
“I guess not, and anyway,” she said, dismissing the subject for a more important one, “I’ve gone on lots of missions during that time of month.”
“You were so fragile yesterday morning.”
“I’m feeling better now. It’s not a problem.”
Daniel didn’t look as though he trusted her current state of healthiness, but after the day before he couldn’t very well argue that she was still in a state of fragility.
“No more excuses. I’m going.” She grinned at him, ready to talk about something else again.
She’d said what needed to be said on the subject, which was that there was no reason for her not to go.
“Would you like to hear what else I want to try?” she asked with a wink, making her voice as provocative as possible.
It worked. His eyes narrowed with interest. “Sure.”
“I want to be kissed on a first date, preferably by a guy I can’t resist.” She looked down at her hands, fanning her fingers out. “Do you think I should paint my nails, too? I don’t know if it’s conventional to paint your toes and your fingernails the same color. Do you suppose the fashion police will get me if I do it?”
He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. He’d been tense about her involvement in the mission, but now he positively vibrated with obvious displeasure. “No way in hell.”
“You don’t think I should paint my fingernails?”
He clenched his jaw. “No first date. No kissing.”
“Why not?” she asked, all innocence.
“You belong to me.”
“And that means I can’t go out on a first date and get ki—”
“No other man is touching you with his lips or anything else,” he growled.
“Did I say another man?”
“You said on a first date.”
“Since we’ve never actually been on a date, is that a problem? Don’t you want to go out with me? We could see a movie, or go to a show, or go on a picnic in the park.”
“We can go on a date.” He sounded as if he was agreeing to take her on a tour of a mushroom farm the day they fertilized.
“That’s magnanimous of you.”
“I mean, if you want to go out, I’ll take you out.” His voice was infused with slightly more enthusiasm.
She cocked her head back, giving him her best come-hither look. “And will you kiss me?”
“Are you saying I’m the irresistible guy you were talking about?”
“I haven’t been able to resist you yet, have I?”
